Today, we are joined by Dr. Stefanie Simmons, emergency medicine physician, national leader in clinician wellbeing, and Chief Medical Officer of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation, for a conversation about service, systemic change, and reimagining healthcare workers as emotional and intellectual athletes.
Dr. Stefanie Simmons MD, FACEP is an Emergency Medicine Specialist Trained Physician and the Chief Medical Officer of the Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation. She previously served as National Medical Director of Patient Experience and Clinician Engagement, then Vice President of Patient and Clinician Engagement at Envision Physician Services. She has held positions as Core Faculty in Well-Being at Practicing Excellence, Core Faculty in Emergency Medicine at University of Michigan Medical School, Medical Director of Patient and Clinician Experience at EPMG-Emergency Physicians Medical Group, and Physician Champion of Patient Experience at Trinity Health.
Dr. Simmons brings a unique perspective shaped by history and systems thinking. “Healthcare workers are emotional and intellectual athletes performing profound feats of intellectual and emotional endurance and performance every time we show up to care for another human being in the worst day of their lives.”
In this conversation, Stefanie reflects on her unexpected path into medicine. Originating from a family ethic of service and her father’s repeated message: our duty is to use our talents to make the world a better place. She traces how her historian’s eye for systems and change, combined with early experiences of misalignment between medicine’s ideals and realities, led her to focus on the interpersonal, cultural, and systemic dimensions of healing.
We also cover:
- The tragic story of Dr. Lorna Breen and the foundation’s mission to dismantle structural barriers to mental healthcare for clinicians, including invasive licensing and credentialing questions about past mental health treatment
- How personal struggles with unaddressed mental health needs and stigma shaped her commitment to changing medical culture and treating healthcare workers with the same care they provide to patients
- The foundation’s comprehensive work across research, education, collaboration with national organizations, and accelerating solutions through the impact badge program that recognizes institutions removing stigmatizing questions
- Her vision for the future: treating healthcare workers as emotional and intellectual athletes who deserve proper training, rest, coaching, and supportive systems designed to help them thrive rather than injure them
- The practical steps needed to close the implementation gap between recognized best practices and the lived experience of healthcare workers in the field
Throughout, Dr. Simmons embodies moral clarity, vulnerability, and hope—grounded in systems thinking, dedicated to cultural transformation, and committed to a more humane medical profession. She closes with a powerful reframe: in order to reach a state where our healthcare workforce is healthy and thriving, we need to treat ourselves and each other as the intellectual and emotional athletes that we are.
Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefsimmons/
Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation: https://drlornabreen.org/
EmPRO Website: https://www.myempro.com/
EmPRO Peer Support Program: https://www.myempro.com/peer-support/
Physician Support Line: +1(888) 409-0141
Physician Support Line Website: https://www.physiciansupportline.com/
Dr. Krasner’s Website: https://mickkrasnermd.com/
Mindful Practice in Medicine Website: https://mindfulpracticeinmedicine.com/